iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Some very happy (and no doubt relieved!) Argentina fans in Wgtn

Argentina fans in team shirts posing with a cut out of Lionel Messi

Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Battle of the medical doctors in Whāngarei! Labour's selected emergency medicine specialist Dr Gary Payinda to take on Dr Shane Reti at next year's election

Labour selects Dr Gary Payinda for Whāngarei

17 November 2025

The Labour Party has selected emergency medicine specialist doctor Dr Gary Payinda as candidate for Whāngarei for 2026.
“It’s an honour to be selected as Labour’s Whāngarei candidate,” Dr Gary Payinda said.
“The work we are doing to provide every New Zealander with three free GP visits a year will be a game-changer in healthcare, helping people before their conditions worsen and they end up in hospital. It will prevent suffering, save lives, reduce pressure on our hospitals, and keep people healthier.
“For nearly two decades, I’ve worked as an emergency doctor in Whangārei. I’ve raised my kids here, worked on the rescue helicopter, served on school boards, and as the national medical director for Surf Life Saving NZ.

“It’s a privilege to live and work in Northland, but over the past two years I’ve watched the National Government drive inequity, undercut public health and make visiting the doctor more expensive and out of reach for many people.

“I believe in equity for all and in the social good that Labour has always stood for – policies that benefit every New Zealander, regular Kiwis, the regular person, not just those at the top.

“I understand how government policies and public services can literally transform lives. I am excited to stand as the Labour candidate for Whāngarei, and I am ready to represent the needs of our community in Parliament, with everything I’ve got,” Gary Payinda said.

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Christopher Luxon and Donald Trump meet one on one for the first time, ahead of an Apec leaders' dinner in Gyeongju, South Korea

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

From me this morning - Coalition’s Palestine cop-out puts pragmatism above principle: newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/28/c...

Comment: A crucial part of New Zealand’s national identity – or myth, depending on your cynicism levels – is our history of moral leadership on the world stage.

Whether on nuclear-free advocacy, the suffragette movement or the war in Iraq, we like to tell ourselves we are willing to put our head above the parapet on issues that affect our national conscience.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ announcement that New Zealand will not yet support Palestinian statehood, splitting from the announcements made by Australia, the United Kingdom and a number of other close partners, at least technically maintains our claim to an independent foreign policy.

But the coalition’s decision will leave a sour taste in the mouths of many New Zealanders, and a sense that pragmatism (bordering on cowardice) has trumped principle when it comes to the future of a territory that a United Nations commission has determined is being subjected to genocide.

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Looking forward to Chippy being asked to spell out exactly what FIGJAM stands for - bold choice for a PR...

Labour Party press release

Headline: Christopher Luxon’s ego gets ahead of him, again

Text: Christopher Luxon is claiming a major international business investment secured under Labour as his own.
“In an embarrassing faux pas, Christopher Luxon is claiming a $7.5 billion investment in New Zealand as something he’s done, when in reality he’s had very little to do with it,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.
“He’s the FIGJAM Prime Minister. He spends so much time and energy claiming everything Labour did was wrong, now he’s claiming Labour’s achievements as his own.
“In 2021, Amazon announced the investment Christopher Luxon took upon himself to ‘announce’ this morning.

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

The personification of 'explaining is losing'

Headline on NZ Herald story: 'Nato chief clarifies ‘daddy’ comments about Trump at Nato summit'

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

I'm not sure Act's suggestion that critics are deliberately misinterpreting the provisions in the Regulatory Standards Bill is helped by then selectively quoting excerpts from an old speech about the bill, without including the criticisms...

ACT Party Facebook post saying: "Believe it or not, the Labour Party was once sane. In 2011, Labour’s Justice spokesperson and lawyer Charles Chauvel described the principles in the Regulatory Standards Bill like this:"

"Principles that pretty much anybody should support."

"Those principles are incontrovertible and are the basis on which the legal system rests."

"Nobody could argue with those principles. They are right and they are self-evident."

Text from Chauvel speech: "One of the problems about the bill, and one of the reasons why members on this side have real concerns, is that although it seems to state very fair-sounding principles, very inarguable principles, principles that most would accept without second thought, the way in which the principles would then be applied to legislation is the problem. The bill provides that wherever an enactment can be given a meaning that is compatible with the principles, it is to be preferred to all other meanings."

Text from Chauvel speech: "I just want to run through some of the criticism that I think has been made, justifiably, of the bill, apart from the problem that I have just identified. First of all, the Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce failed to justify why this sort of bill is necessary. There is very little evidence showing why a rigorous or intensive approach is required, as opposed to some of the other options that were canvassed by the Commerce Committee when mark 1 of this legislation was considered. There is no convincing argument as to why legislation is required to ensure better legislation, as opposed to other means of improving the way that we do things here. When we measure the Regulatory Standards Bill against its own principles, it is clear that no responsible legislator could vote for it."

Text from Chauvel speech: "I think, ironically, this bill will create more compliance costs than it would save. The relevant Minister, or the public entity, will need to undertake a certification process. There will be regular reviews of all legislation, annual reporting requirements by every entity, ministerial oversight of the review, and then the prospect of litigation being generated by the possibility of an application for a declaration of incompatibility. That all implies massive resources, particularly over a 10-year time frame, which George Tanner QC referred to as unworkable and unrealistic.

We have real problems in the legislation. There are better alternatives. The Commerce Committee has already considered those and has said that if a regulatory impact statement and ministerial sign-off on compliance with Legislation Advisory Committee guidelines were taken seriously, they would make a real difference here. We should try using what we have, improving it, and actually adopting the principles that the bill would exhort us to follow. We should look at what we have and decide whether it is workable before we embark on an innovation such as this, which will be costly and unworkable. That is my challenge to the Minister."

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Big year for a very specific Simpsons meme in NZ political discourse. First Chris Hipkins in March on Winston Peters, then Peters himself yesterday on the Govt's foreign policy critics - who will next to face accusations of shouting at clouds?

Excerpt from Stuff story:

Responding to Peters’ criticism of his leadership, Hipkins replied: “Winston Peters, every day looks more and more like an angry old man shouting at the clouds.”

Excerpt from Newsroom story:

“We leave it to the small cabal of ill-informed critics of our foreign policy approach to shout impotently at clouds,” Peters said – a line he was sufficiently pleased with to repeat a second time.

A meme from the Simpsons, featuring a newspaper clipping of Abe Simpson shaking his fist at a cloud with the headline: 'Old man yells at cloud'.

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Hamish Cooper has just been named as NZ's next High Commissioner to the UK, after Phil Goff was sacked earlier this year - he'll take up the post in September, with former Mfat boss Chris Seed continuing to fill in on a temporary basis until then:

New High Commissioner to the UK announced

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Hamish Cooper as New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

“New Zealand’s relationship with the UK is one of our most important.

“Mr Cooper is one of New Zealand’s most senior and experienced diplomats and is eminently well-qualified to take on this significant role,” Mr Peters says.

Over his 40-year career at the Ministry, Mr Cooper has held several important roles including as New Zealand’s Ambassador to Japan, Russia, and Türkiye.

He will take up the role in September.

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Can't believe this is how I find out there's a season two of Juggernaut coming... @haydendonnell.bsky.social

Text from angsty millennial Hayden Donnell's Spinoff article about the retirement age (https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/28-05-2025/radical-millennial-idea-dont-raise-the-age-of-superannuation-eligibility):

"Not every millennial is lucky enough to have a job working at Air NZ or sitting in front of the computer watching Toby Manhire research Juggernaut season two."

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

WRONG KIWI – DO NOT EAT PLEASE, EUROPEANS

A Newstalk ZB tweet with the article headline 'Kiwifruit and sustainable sportswear: A year of the NZ-EU trade deal' ... but the link is to a different article, titled 'Watch: Kiwi released on Waiheke Island for first time', with an image of a kiwi being held by somebody.

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

It’s fair to debate whether the proposed suspensions for Te Pāti Māori MPs are disproportionately severe, but they appear to be wrong when they say the longest suspension on record prior was three days - found a story about John Banks being suspended for seven days in the 1980s:

In late 1986, amid public outcry over violent crimes, Banks releases details of previous convictions of two accused. He survives contempt of court charges.

In April 1987 he is suspended from Parliament for seven days over allegations that Cabinet Minister Richard Prebble benefited from the votes of Pacific Island overstayers in Auckland Central.

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Slightly concerned trans-Tasman relations may be set back by 1News' Aziz Al-Sa'afin possibly trampling Aussie PM Anthony Albanese's dog? The footage is not conclusive, he may not have been the trampler

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Tulsi Gabbard at Raisina: “Just as President Trump is committed to America First…Prime Minister Luxon is committed to New Zealand First.” If only she knew how right she was…

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

From bad to worse – one of the Compass Group's subcontractors for the school lunch programme has gone into liquidation! Not the Govt's fault of course, but still awkward...

Liquidators appointed to Libelle Group
Auckland, March 11, 2025 – The above company was placed into Liquidation this morning (March 11, 2025) by the shareholders of the company.
Robert Campbell and David Webb of Deloitte New Zealand have been appointed as Liquidators.
Libelle Group is a food service provider, offering a range of services including government funded lunches, residential catering, tuckshop solutions and school catering services for the past 20 years. Its contracts span the education sector.
Libelle Group is contracted by Compass Group New Zealand Limited (Compass) to deliver approximately 125,000 meals daily as part of the Government’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches programme. The Liquidators have immediately engaged with Compass who is working with the School Lunch Collective to support continuity of service.
“The Liquidators are undertaking a full and urgent review of all of Libelle’s operations, with our immediate focus being working with Libelle’s employees and affected stakeholders to ascertain the way forward, including ensuring students around New Zealand continue to receive their school lunches,” said Liquidator David Webb.
The Liquidators understand there will be many parties, including employees, suppliers and schools, who will have questions about the process and the Liquidators will work with Compass and relevant parties to ensure stakeholders are kept informed.

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Well I guess if you say so NYT…

Selectively cropped NYT push alert: “What to watch: A Brisk and Juicy Australian”

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

This (from Shayne Currie's media column) is super petty from Stuff, if they do indeed follow through - they poached him from the NZ Herald to start with! Hard to argue there's any meaningful threat to intellectual property etc, it's just like the Tova case all over again

Text from NZ Herald column: We hear Stuff is so unhappy about losing top reporter Sam Sherwood to RNZ that it has been considering invoking a three-month restraint of trade. Sherwood, who rejoined Stuff eight months ago following an award-winning stint at the NZ Herald, has been appointed national crime correspondent at the public broadcaster. Sherwood declined to comment and Stuff said: “We don’t comment on individual employment matters.”

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

We also have two of the ten smallest test victories (by run), and don't appear on the wrong end of a squeaker! Like the symmetry there

Cricinfo stats for smallest margin of victory by runs in tests: https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/smallest-margin-of-victory-by-runs-215342

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 19/09/2023

Skyrocketing inflation hits political self-evaluations - whatever happened to the humble 7/10?

A screenshot of a Stuff news story stating that "both party leaders rated their own performance an eight out of 10"

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Sam Sachdeva @samsachdeva.bsky.social · 18/09/2023

In the spirit of starting as you mean to go on, here is a cat photo - specifically of Panda, my temporary next door neighbour while I squat at a friend's place in London

A goofy black and white cat squishing his face against a glass window with a garden in the background

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